"Smiles All Around"

Blog post written by Ann Black, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps member at Neil Armstrong Elementary.

My first great story not only focuses upon the growth for one of my kindergarten students with letter sounds, but also touches upon my own, personal growth. I start each day by walking to one of our kindergarten classrooms. Anna* sees me at the door, smiles and runs toward me. We talk on our way to my room and then she sits right down to work on her intervention. She listens intently to the instructions and then we get right to work with letter sounds. She works through the five, letter-sound flash cards and as we substitute two new letters, she has a huge smile on her face. When I first tested Anna's knowledge of letter sounds, she recorded a score of 0. However, she is now able to identify 17 letter sounds and I am proud of how far she has come in the short time that we have been doing the interventions. I knew when I became an AmeriCorps member that this would be a rewarding experience, but I could not have imagined the personal growth that I have experienced in one short month. This experience is incredible and I can’t wait for each school day to begin.

I am also blessed to be at Neil Armstrong with a returning Internal Coach who gives me encouragement every day. Even though she is very busy, she takes time to check-in and answer any questions that I might have on a given day. Neil Armstrong is a very caring community and I have learned so much from everyone at the school. Just watching the interactions between teachers and students has been rewarding and has helped me strengthen my own interactions with students. There have been some challenges, but we have worked through them as a team. I am excited to be a small part of this team and an AmeriCorps member.

*Name has been changed to ensure confidentiality.

"I am Breathing!" - Reflections on Validating Student Concerns

Ryan Moorehead, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

Blog post written by Ryan Moorehead, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Member at Oskaloosa Elementary.

I have always considered myself a fairly patient and mindful person. Growing up, I was the only child in my family who could enjoy a long afternoon of fishing, or a baseball game without having my attention stolen by a more exciting proposition. This sort of mindset combined with a little curiosity and hard work made school something to look forward to every day. I had always attributed my academic successes, at least in part, to some innate abilities and handful of other intangibles.

As I get older, I am slowly realizing that I often downplayed the importance of being mindful and patient. I was fortunate enough to have parents and teachers that not only spoke to the importance of these qualities, but also provided me with practical strategies to apply to any adversity I may encounter. After a while, these strategies so deeply ingrained as to almost seem automatic. 

At some point, a light bulb went off in my head and I realized that this was something I could easily incorporate into tutoring sessions when needed. For some of the students I work with, it seems inevitable that some unfortunate circumstance will find them throughout the course of any given day (e.g. Sally wasn’t sharing the soccer ball at recess or Billy breaking someone’s pencil during Art). This, in addition to potential stresses from home, could leave even the best of us without enough bandwidth to be engaged in our learning all of the time.

When a student arrives flustered it’s easy to reassure them with a “Calm down” or “Breathe.” Unsurprisingly, that is often met with an “I am breathing!” As I’ve learned, little minds full of emotion and anxiety are not on the ingredient list for a meaningful tutoring session. I have found that acknowledging each student’s concerns as valid to be an incredibly powerful tool. Everyone gets upset every once and a while – it’s part of life. The most important part of these experiences is how we respond and refocus our energy in a calm and positive manner.

I’ve found that small exercises grounded in these general principles to be of vital importance in my role as a tutor. They help create an environment that is not only conducive to learning, but is also fun. With a little practice, hopefully the students can come to draw on these strategies as second nature.

"Feeling the Love"

Lisa Dennis, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps member

Blog post written by Lisa Dennis, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps member at Sawyer Elementary.

After four months of Reading Corps tutoring, my students are used to working with me. They see me every day at the same time, for the same amount of time, doing relatively the same thing. They get it. I've always felt like my students see me as another teacher, or simply, the "girl they read with." However, I've recently begun to realize that they see me as more than that.

One of my students surprised me by drawing a picture that showed the two of us holding hands and included a nice note to me at the top of the illustration. One of them insists on running up to give me a hug or "high five" each and every time I see her in the hallway. And one instance that made me feel really special was when I was working with a student and I told him that he was doing so well that he might not have to see me anymore.  I explained that his reading scores had improved so much that he wouldn't have to work with me any longer.

All of a sudden, the tears started flowing. He was genuinely upset and sad that he wouldn't get to see me anymore. He asked me, with watery eyes and a shaky voice, "But will I still get to see you every day?" Just then, in that moment, I realized that I'm not just "the girl they work with" or the teacher who takes them out of class. Those 20 minutes that we spend together each day means something more to them. Its really nice to feel that love from some of the most unexpected places.

Becoming "Super Tutor"

Blog post written by Barbara Mittman, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps member at Central Elementary.

Barb Mittman, Iowa Reading Corps
AmeriCorps Member

Faster than an uttered phoneme!  More pesky than a mosquito in May!  Able to stop a reader with a single tap!  It’s fidelity, it’s integrity, it’s Super Tutor!

I developed my superhuman abilities to benefit readers and committed to the high moral responsibilities of fidelity and integrity in September.  Like any other superhero, I have tools to help save students from the perils of illiteracy and skills to promote reading fluency.  I also have my own Kryptonite.  When face-to-face with a student’s immediate success, my resolve can weaken.

A second grader misses an “s” on a word in her final newscaster reading.  I buzz in, as annoying as a gnat, with the standard correction.  An ELL student omits a “the.”  I touch the table with my pencil eraser and everything comes to a screeching halt after seven correct sentences.  One “-ed” stands between a third grader and a perfect one-minute repeated reading and I see his shoulders slump as soon as I extend my hand.  In these moments of success, I hate the disruption that the standard correction creates and want to give in to the voice in my head that says, “It’s just an ‘s’ -- just this once.”

My all too human experience has taught me what difference a moment can make and I can be quite disgusted by missed opportunities.  I am totally responsible for the time I have with each Reading Corps student each day.  Since just one letter has the power to change meaning, it is up to me to exercise my super powers time after time.  The only sure outcome of a weakened Super Tutor is a year of “dis” service.

Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Program Launches!

Post written by Melissa Simmermaker, Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Program Manager.

In partnership with local United Ways and school districts, the Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Program, an initiative of United Ways of Iowa, launched in the September 2013.  Iowa Reading Corps is a statewide initiative to help ensure that all Iowa students are on track to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.

The program places AmeriCorps members, trained as Elementary Literacy Tutors, at elementary schools across the state of Iowa to implement prescribed literacy interventions for students who are just below proficiency in reading.

In its inaugural year, the Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Program placed 10 full-time AmeriCorps members, trained as Elementary Literacy Tutors, in eight school districts across the state of Iowa.  Each day, members meet individually with students to conduct 20-minute tutoring sessions that focus upon building students’ skills in phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency. Based upon current educational research and best practices, the tutoring sessions follow a Response to Intervention (RtI) model.  Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps members also conduct additional volunteer recruitment strategies as agreed upon by local need.

The Iowa Reading Corps AmeriCorps Program is replicating a successful, evidence-based model first launched in Minnesota in 2003. To find out more information about the Minnesota Reading Corps and their results, visit minnesotareadingcorps.org.